Everyone has their own thing. I don't like watching his show, but basically the face is a signal that the joke is over and it's time to laugh. Even if you find something funny, you're not likely to just bust out laughing right? It keeps the audience involved and prevents the need for stuff like a "laugh now" sign.

I used to like Jon Stewart - back when he was drier, more sarcastic and less "funny-faces" and "meme-jokes". I think Colbert has surpassed him in every way. He needs to go back to how he was during the '05-'06 period when he was at his height.

I find him pretty good most of the time but like any routine that goes on for extended periods of time the effect lessens exponentially as the show keeps on truckin. I find him funniest when he's simply making intelligent observations rather than making funny voices or faces. He's an intelligent guy and doesn't need to play up the crowd nearly as much.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

I haven't watched regularly since 2008 (because I prefer a Daily Show that is critical of government), but I don't remember him overdoing it then.

I know Stewart is clearly a liberal, but that really doesn't stop him from pulling punches every time the Obama regime does dumb shit. He's spent a lot of time eviscerating how they fucked up the whole Obamacare website launch to a point where the mainstream news channels were doing a lot of "this has been so bad that EVEN Jon Stewart has been criticising Obama". Which is a dumb comment from people who haven't paid much attention to his many critiques of a far from perfect government.

So yeah, I still like and enjoy The Daily Show. I also like the use of comedic pauses. So hey. There you go.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

And another hand raised.

Me too, and now I find the original post in this quote tree to be funny.

I actually prefer Stewart to Colbert - for whatever reason Colbert's act comes off as more dismissive to opposing points of view - or maybe the points of view he attacks are more legitimate (in my mind) than the easier targets the Daily Show usually chooses.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

My feelings are similar; I enjoy both shows though Colbert does seem to be more funny more often.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

And another hand raised.

Me too, and now I find the original post in this quote tree to be funny.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

And another hand raised.

Me too, and now I find the original post in this quote tree to be funny.

I'm Spartacus!

NONE OF YOU ACTUALLY FIND ANY OF HIS MATERIAL FUNNY. YOU'RE JUST CONFORMISTS. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!? OR ARE YOU THAT MUCH IN DENIAL!?

I find him pretty good most of the time but like any routine that goes on for extended periods of time the effect lessens exponentially as the show keeps on truckin. I find him funniest when he's simply making intelligent observations rather than making funny voices or faces. He's an intelligent guy and doesn't need to play up the crowd nearly as much.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

And another hand raised.

Me too, and now I find the original post in this quote tree to be funny.

I'm Spartacus!

NONE OF YOU ACTUALLY FIND ANY OF HIS MATERIAL FUNNY. YOU'RE JUST CONFORMISTS. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!? OR ARE YOU THAT MUCH IN DENIAL!?

Isn't this generally why laugh tracks were invented, so everyone knows when to laugh at the jokes? A lot of American TV does this and it can drive me bananas at times.

I haaaaaaate laugh tracks, there are some shows I genuinely like that I have trouble watching because of those annoyances, dvds and blu-rays should all come with a 'laugh track disabled' option.

Anyways, I agree that Stewarts gimmicks can bug me some time but I still generally like him and Colbert.Bill Maher does the same thing as Stewart does too, the "Oh I made a funny, so I'm going to scrunch my face and hold for the laughs" and it's annoying there too, but I'd much rather watch any of these three guys over some other new sources that are just garbage.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

And another hand raised.

Me too, and now I find the original post in this quote tree to be funny.

I'm Spartacus!

NONE OF YOU ACTUALLY FIND ANY OF HIS MATERIAL FUNNY. YOU'RE JUST CONFORMISTS. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!? OR ARE YOU THAT MUCH IN DENIAL!?

(Is the counterpoint I pulled out of my ass.)

Another conformist that raises his hand in favor of the Daily Show. I have only started to watch it fairly recently so I can see how it might get old but at the moment I'm enjoying it a lot even if the quality fluctuates quite a bit.

I actually prefer Stewart to Colbert - for whatever reason Colbert's act comes off as more dismissive to opposing points of view - or maybe the points of view he attacks are more legitimate (in my mind) than the easier targets the Daily Show usually chooses.

That's because Colbert is playing a character who represents the worst of the "selfish ignorant republican blowhard" stereotype whereas Jon Stewart is just being himself, a liberal, but generally somewhat open to hear the other side out even if he thinks they're wrong.

But because Colbert's playing a character it gives him a bit more room to be funny on his own by saying and doing outrageous things, whereas Stewart and The Daily Show are funniest when the story they are covering is a funny story, like all the Anthony Wiener stuff or the Rob Ford stuff, and they get to riff on it.

@brodehouse: Stewart has been one of the most vocal critics of the rollout of Obamacare. The difference is that, unlike the complete morons on Fox, he's not gleefully obsessed with it's shortcomings. Just because he's liberal doesn't mean he puts up with stupidity from the left. He's always been fair when it comes to pointing out absurdities. The right just so happens to be the bigger absurdity producer since 2000.

And yeah, OP, I'm going to be honest. If you think this is a thing that Jon Stewart does, rather than a thing all comedians do, you may want to watch more good standup. Every comedian will tell you that the pause for laughter is an essential part of the comedic timing. They'll also probably personally sing praises about Jon Stewart because he really is one of the best.

Nah, you don't quite get what I'm saying. Of course I realize that Colbert is an act, but the act is in itself dismissive of the views he is parodying, which are not always as stupid as he makes them sound.

I actually prefer Stewart to Colbert - for whatever reason Colbert's act comes off as more dismissive to opposing points of view - or maybe the points of view he attacks are more legitimate (in my mind) than the easier targets the Daily Show usually chooses.

That's because Colbert is playing a character who represents the worst of the "selfish ignorant republican blowhard" stereotype whereas Jon Stewart is just being himself, a liberal, but generally somewhat open to hear the other side out even if he thinks they're wrong.

But because Colbert's playing a character it gives him a bit more room to be funny on his own by saying and doing outrageous things, whereas Stewart and The Daily Show are funniest when the story they are covering is a funny story, like all the Anthony Wiener stuff or the Rob Ford stuff, and they get to riff on it.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

And another hand raised.

Me too, and now I find the original post in this quote tree to be funny.

I'm Spartacus!

NONE OF YOU ACTUALLY FIND ANY OF HIS MATERIAL FUNNY. YOU'RE JUST CONFORMISTS. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!? OR ARE YOU THAT MUCH IN DENIAL!?

(Is the counterpoint I pulled out of my ass.)

Another conformist that raises his hand in favor of the Daily Show. I have only started to watch it fairly recently so I can see how it might get old but at the moment I'm enjoying it a lot even if the quality fluctuates quite a bit.

You guys are a bunch of goddamn sheep. Wait, who are we talking about? Jon Stewart? Oh yeah, that dudes funny I like him.

I find Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to be equally funny but I prefer the structure of the Daily Show with it's correspondents and stuff. I don't watch Colbert every day but I'm pretty sure he doesn't have correspondents. Both are pretty funny most of the time but even when the jokes don't hit, they are still interesting. Their delivery and presentational style makes whatever they cover, more interesting.

The people in the audience laugh because they're expected to laugh. Everyone around them is doing it, so they do it too.

I don't know anyone who actually genuinely finds his material funny.

I'll raise my hand and say "I enjoy The Daily Show."

I'll raise my hand right along with you. I genuinely enjoy The Daily Show a lot.

Another hand raised here. I know lots of people that enjoy it, as well.

I don't always laugh out loud at his material, but I always enjoy watching the daily show. I have more of a continuous laid back enjoyment throughout the show, rather than a moment to moment laughfest. I will say however, that I think Colbert is a lot more generally "funny".

And another hand raised.

Me too, and now I find the original post in this quote tree to be funny.

I'm Spartacus!

NONE OF YOU ACTUALLY FIND ANY OF HIS MATERIAL FUNNY. YOU'RE JUST CONFORMISTS. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!? OR ARE YOU THAT MUCH IN DENIAL!?

(Is the counterpoint I pulled out of my ass.)

Another conformist that raises his hand in favor of the Daily Show. I have only started to watch it fairly recently so I can see how it might get old but at the moment I'm enjoying it a lot even if the quality fluctuates quite a bit.

You guys are a bunch of goddamn sheep. Wait, who are we talking about? Jon Stewart? Oh yeah, that dudes funny I like him.

Yay quote pyramid. Jon Stewart was unfortunately not Prince John in Men in Tights, even though they look and sound exactly the same.